FARRAND, Robert (1792-1855), of 4 Catherine Court. Tower Hill, London; Holme Hale Hall, Norfolk

A corn factor and ‘highly respectable London merchant’, Farrand offered silent support for Conservative principles during his brief spell in the reformed Commons.1Staffordshire Advertiser, 3 Jan. 1835. He had previously sat for Hedon on the interest of his father, Christopher Atkinson (later Savile), MP for Hedon 1780-3, 1796-1806, and Okehampton, 1818-19. Farrand had associated with the Whigs during the 1820s, but later opposed the Grey ministry’s reform bill that disenfranchised his constituency.2G.A. Carthew, A history, topographical, archaeological, genealogical, and biographical of the parishes of West and East Bradenham (1883), 194; HP Commons, 1790-1820, iii. 94-6; ibid., 1820-1832, v. 87-8.

Farrand was passing through Stafford in December 1832 when he was approached by a deputation to stand for that borough at the general election, as one candidate was reported to be retiring. As this turned out not to be the case, Farrand withdrew at the nomination but told electors ‘that I may probably on some future occasion appear before you as a candidate’.3Staffordshire Advertiser, 15 Dec. 1832. He fulfilled his promise by offering at the next general election in 1835, when he declared himself ‘most ardently attached to the Church of England’.4Staffordshire Advertiser, 29 Nov. 1834, 3 Jan. 1835. He promised to vote for the repeal of the new poor law, which was unpopular in the borough, and approvingly commented of Peel’s new Conservative government that a ministry ‘ought to consist of tried men … they must not have men who were mere speculators in politics’.5Staffordshire Advertiser, 10 Jan. 1835. Although Farrand finished third out of five candidates, his campaign made him ‘exceedingly popular’ in this venal borough.6Ibid. He was accordingly returned unopposed at a by-election for Stafford in February 1837, after describing the new poor law as ‘vicious and unchristian in its principles and purposes, and monstrous and inhuman in its effects’ and pledging to support its ‘total repeal’.7The Standard, 22 Feb. 1837.

Farrand cast votes against the ballot and the replacement of church rates by pew-rents before standing his ground at the 1837 general election. He was re-elected in second place after reiterating that he was ‘an enemy to the abominable poor law’ and a proponent of ‘Conservative principles’.8Staffordshire Advertiser, 29 July 1837; Morning Post, 27 July 1837. Despite his platform pledges, which probably arose more from electoral calculation rather than conviction, Farrand was generally absent from divisions to repeal or amend the new poor law. He sided with the Conservatives in the votes on Canadian policy, Irish church appropriation and Peel’s motion of no confidence, 7 Mar. 1838, 15 May 1838, 4 June 1841, and he opposed attempts to alter or repeal the corn laws. At the 1841 general election he retired ‘on account of the somewhat delicate state of his health’.9Staffordshire Advertiser, 12 June 1841.

Farrand had built a ‘neat mansion’ in Holme Hale, near Swaffham, Norfolk, where he was lord of the manor, in the late 1830s.10F. White, History, gazetteer and directory of Norfolk (1854), 730. His business was known as Farrand, Young and White from 1850. He died in 1855, without any heirs, his personalty being sworn under £3,000.11HP Commons, 1820-1832, v. 88. His legitimate half-brother Albany Savile, was MP for Okehampton 1807-20.12Ibid., vii. 18.